Cambrian and Ordovician stratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Arafura Basin, offshore Northern Territory

Abstract

Recovery of conodonts and other fossils from four petroleum exploration wells (Esso Tasman 1 and Torres 1; Petrofina Goulburn 1 and Arafura 1), drilled in the Goulburn Graben of the Arafura Basin off the northern coast of Australia, have extended the known distribution of both Ordovician and Cambrian sediments across part of the northern Australian continental margin. The Cambrian and Ordovician sediments in the Arafura Basin comprise the four formations of the Goulburn Group. The recovered fossils indicate that in the offshore, the Jigaimara Formation is most likely of middle to late Templetonian age, the Naningbura Dolomite is Furongian to early Tremadocian, the Milingimbi Formation is middle Tremadocian, and the Mooroongga Formation is of late Tremadocian to middle Floian age. Show more